Technology Belongs in Every Class! | Digtital Photography | Digital Editing | Skype | iPod Touch | WebQuest | Angle Sum Applet | Sibelius 6 | Internet | PowerPoint | A-Plus Software | Google Docs | Pedometers
8th Grade Technology Day at Innovative Middle School November 16, 2009
Your Technology for a Day Planning Team
Kyle DeSonne (Science, Social Studies)
Patience Rush (Language Arts, Physical Education, Health)
Jennifer Schmidt (Foreign Language, Music)
Megan Wolfe (Mathematics, Art)
We have created a lesson plan in every major content area which incorporates technology in a variety of ways. The eighth grade students, for which these lessons were planned, will have the opportunity to engage with technology using instructional activities which range from communicating with students around the world to digitally editing photographs they took. Please browse our lessons following the links to the left, and feel free to borrow or adapt any of our lesson ideas.
The Setting
These lessons are set to take place in a typical suburban, middle-class middle school. This school serves about 800 students in grades six through eight. The students arrive from several different elementary schools in sixth grade and will move together to a single high school at the end of their eighth grade year. There is a small amount of racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity, as is usual of most suburbs. Through district and PTA funds, as well as teacher-written grants, there is a variety of technology available for student and staff use. Here is a summary of technological resources:
5 color printers spread throughout community spaces such as the library and computer lab.
20 digital cameras, which are also capable of shooting short video clips.
2 PC-based computer labs with 25 Internet connected computers. Each lab also has a SmartBoard, visible from all computing stations. There are two additional portable laptop labs which can be wheeled to individual classrooms. Each of these computers is loaded with software including Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Sibelius and Inspiration.
Each classroom has anywhere from 2-6 Internet connected computers.
2 Portable Smartboards for use in individual classrooms.
A web cam.
60 iPod Touches with portable chargers.
60 Pedometers.
The Clientele
These lessons have been designed specifically for eighth grade students, who typically start the school year at 12 to 14 years old. These students are in the midst of puberty. The physical changes taking place in the children's bodies can affect their social, emotional and intellectual lives. Being young adolescents, these students are trying to establish independence from adults and develop a personal identity. Socially, they are paticularly vulnerable to peer pressure. Intellectually, students at this age are also beginning to develop abstract thinking skills; this is a big shift from the concrete thinking they did in elementary school. They tend to be restless and have low motivation therefore, engaging, inteactive lessons are crucial at this stage of development.
Caissy, G.A. (1994). Early Adolescence: Understanding the 10 to 15 Year Old. Insight Books: New York.
8th Grade Technology Day at Innovative Middle School November 16, 2009
Your Technology for a Day Planning Team
Kyle DeSonne (Science, Social Studies)
Patience Rush (Language Arts, Physical Education, Health)
Jennifer Schmidt (Foreign Language, Music)
Megan Wolfe (Mathematics, Art)
We have created a lesson plan in every major content area which incorporates technology in a variety of ways. The eighth grade students, for which these lessons were planned, will have the opportunity to engage with technology using instructional activities which range from communicating with students around the world to digitally editing photographs they took. Please browse our lessons following the links to the left, and feel free to borrow or adapt any of our lesson ideas.
The Setting
These lessons are set to take place in a typical suburban, middle-class middle school. This school serves about 800 students in grades six through eight. The students arrive from several different elementary schools in sixth grade and will move together to a single high school at the end of their eighth grade year. There is a small amount of racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity, as is usual of most suburbs. Through district and PTA funds, as well as teacher-written grants, there is a variety of technology available for student and staff use. Here is a summary of technological resources:
The Clientele
These lessons have been designed specifically for eighth grade students, who typically start the school year at 12 to 14 years old. These students are in the midst of puberty. The physical changes taking place in the children's bodies can affect their social, emotional and intellectual lives. Being young adolescents, these students are trying to establish independence from adults and develop a personal identity. Socially, they are paticularly vulnerable to peer pressure. Intellectually, students at this age are also beginning to develop abstract thinking skills; this is a big shift from the concrete thinking they did in elementary school. They tend to be restless and have low motivation therefore, engaging, inteactive lessons are crucial at this stage of development.
Caissy, G.A. (1994). Early Adolescence: Understanding the 10 to 15 Year Old. Insight Books: New York.
Image of students from www.office.microsoft.com/clipart
Image at top of wiki from http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/universalwaste/